Battle Me
by mayarmayar
Summary: It's the Champion Cup Finals—one of the most anticipated battles in Galar—and yet suddenly, one boy decides to interrupt Challenger Gloria's with one of his own. /dressedinpink one-shot


In the last cubicle of the changing room, Bede tugged the blue-and-pink jersey over his head, mussed his hair with a flick of his wrist, then stared at the boy in the full-length mirror.

He hardly recognised him.

The boy in the mirror had pale violet eyes that sparkled so brightly they appeared almost pink. The boy in the mirror looked like a kid playing Gym Leader dress-up, with a too-long jersey that had to be tucked in on one side but left pooling on the other, tied off with a little bow at the back. Opal would've called it fashion, but he knew elegant Oleana would be turning up her nose and calling it sloppy dressing.

Well, no matter, because the boy in the mirror also had a new spark in his eyes, a wild mixture of sheer determination and fear, and Bede felt more ready to battle than ever before.

He slid out of the cubicle he'd been hiding in for nearly half an hour now. All the other challengers had filled out onto the pitch long ago, and he'd lingered behind, a sulking shadow nobody cast a second glance at.

They were too caught up with the excitement of the much anticipated Champion Cup to notice little things. The Champion Cup that Gym Challenger Bede had been kicked out of. But perhaps, it was something _Gym Leader _Bede could argue his way into.

Though, he wasn't interested in challenging the Champion—not anymore. He wasn't _that _dumb, not anymore. He only wanted one thing now.

He wanted to challenge _her. _

Bede's heartbeat picked up slightly, and he brushed it off as anticipation for an actual, proper battle for what would be the first time in _ages. _

Sure, Gloria was the only person who could ever give him a proper battle (Not Hop, not ever), but besides the fact he'd been rather rudely kicked out of the Gym Challenge, Opal had trapped him in Ballonlea Stadium like he was a prisoner in her dungeon, pelting him with quiz after quiz and battle after battle. And every shot she threw at him had felt like a mouthful of Fairy pink.

But he wouldn't say he didn't gain anything from her training—he'd definitely got a lot stronger (and a lot more pink, but that was besides the point). After all, he'd sacrificed even more for the sake of Opal—he missed his Duosion and his Gothorita dearly. At least he got to keep Rapidash and Hatterene, and he was warming up to Gardevoir and Mawile.

His team was stronger now. _He _was stronger now. He would not let his disqualification get in the way of challenging Gloria in the Finals.

(Besides, Opal had withdrawn from the Finals, complaining of old-people sickness. It made all the more sense to take her place, albeit unofficially.)

He would see her again. More than the audience, more than Chairman Rose, more than Champion Leon, more than anything else—he wanted to see _her _face when he popped out of nowhere back into her life and challenged her unannounced to his final battle.

It would be his last, he was sure of it. He wanted no more of this. And he'd have his last battle no other way but with Gloria.

Bede checked his reflection in the mirror one last time, then raced out of the dressing room, straight past the League staff member standing by the passage, and hurried onto the pitch with a smirk on his face.

_Wait for me. _

* * *

"Wait, you!"

Amidst the confusion of the half-cheering crowd, Gloria's smile slipped off her face, and she froze up for a second, heart jumping to her throat.

_No way. _

That voice. She pressed her lips together and clenched her fists.

She'd know that voice anywhere, however long it might have been.

She turned around, and blinked as a boy dressed in pastel blue and pink strode up to her from the other side of the pitch.

_Who's that? _A disembodied voice from somewhere in the audience called out, and for a second Gloria was sharing the same sentiment as them, tilting her head at the stranger with the rest of the world—before the recognition struck.

Smirking slightly, she met the boy's narrowed violet eyes straight on, a little confused but confident all the same. She'd know that Wooloo hair anywhere too—that was the one thing about his appearance that hadn't changed.

Bede looked at her pointedly before he turned away from her and addressed the crowd with open arms, his familiar obnoxious voice reverberating around the whole stadium.

Gloria crossed her arms and looked at him as he made his comeback speech.

He'd always had a flair for the dramatic, but _this… _She didn't know whether to laugh outright or continue staring in awe at the boy in front of her, so familiar and yet so foreign.

This definitely wasn't the same Bede she knew and got used to dealing with. He _was _dressed ridiculously like a walking candy cone like Opal had been, but strangely, he somehow managed to make Opal's old colours sparkle with a new shine again.

This new Bede radiated his own kind of pink, and the previous arrogant, borderline cruel look that had been ever-present in his eyes was missing right now, replaced by a glimmer that strangely reminded Gloria of the luminescent toadstools in Glimwood Tangle.

This new Bede carried himself more gracefully than she'd ever seen, elegance and poise emanating from him as he announced his purpose here confidently.

And… the more she studied him, the stranger he seemed to become—she started noticing things about him she'd never caught before, like the way his ivory hair curled just below the nape of his neck, the way his striped leggings accentuated the shape of his legs, and the way his long eyelashes framed his almost-iridescent eyes.

This new Bede looked almost… pretty.

She furrowed her eyebrows at him as he carried on his speech at a glacial pace, despite the murmurings of the crowd and exchanged glances between the Gym Leaders.

Who _was _this guy?

As he yammered on, he swiftly established his identity as Bede, the former Gym challenger, but _this _couldn't be that Bede. Blearily, she recalled the last time she'd seen him, in Hammerlocke, where he'd been… dragged away by Opal as her next successor. Gloria shuddered at the very memory. What did Opal _do _to him?

She snapped out of her swirling thoughts when Bede suddenly turned to face her, eyes burning into her.

She schooled her face into nonchalance, not wanting him to spot any emotional weaknesses he'd always liked to exploit before, but nothing could've prepared her for the shock when he declared, "I have a score to settle with Challenger Gloria here. I'm aware that this is against the rules, but I must ask nonetheless… Let me battle her!"

Her eyebrows shot up, and his eyes narrowed, as if gauging her reaction.

Her mind whirled. He wanted to _battle her?_ _Now?_

"I'll stake my career as a challenger on this battle. If I lose"—he closed his eyes with a small huff—"I'll retire from being a Trainer."

Gloria's eyes widened, right as the commentator hollered into the mic, "What an unexpected turn of events! Former Challenger Bede has come for one last battle! We are currently debating what to do with Challenger Bede.

"To all our viewers, both here in the stadium and at home in front of the telly, we ask that you please be patient…"

As the spectators murmured and buzzed at the sudden turn in events, Gloria gaped at him.

"Are you serious right now?" she blurted out, raising her voice over the noise of the stadium. "What in the bloody world do you think you're doing?"

Bede merely returned her a cool, unaffected gaze.

"Oh, I'm completely serious," he countered calmly. "And I know _exactly _what I'm doing. I meant everything I said just now. I will challenge you for my last battle. This is something I have to do."

She wanted to laugh in his face, but held back. Instead, she crossed her arms and glared at him, ready to lecture him. "I knew you were self-centered, but this is a whole new level, Bede. Interrupting the Finals matches with your personal agenda? Look, I get you were unfairly kicked out and all, and I don't know what happened with Opal, but this is hardly the time for that. We're on _live television _. That means this is being broadcasted all throughout not only Galar, but the whole world too!"

Bede's eyes flashed at her words, and for a moment Gloria thought he looked like the old Bede she knew, but then he shook his head and said, "Look, I _know _this is ridiculous of me—you don't have to tell me that. But I had to say something… do something!"

His words came out in a rush, and for a second he looked flustered as they traded gazes.

Then, abruptly he broke away from her stare and looked down at his new blue-and-pink trackers, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Ever since you showed up," he growled through gritted teeth, "everything I've ever done has gone wrong!"

Gloria frowned at that proclamation, not sure how to react, but he continued looking down, biting his lip before confessing, "It was Oleana who asked me to gather Wishing Stars for the chairman, but then the chairman himself disowned me… And then that strange old lady comes out of nowhere and drags me into a boot camp on Fairy-type Pokemon!"

She had to resist the urge to giggle, biting down on her lip and stifling her smile—and failing terribly—as he continued angrily, "Do you have any idea what I've been through?! Covered in pink, dealing with quizzes and battles with Fairy-type Pokemon every day!"

But then her smile faltered and fell from her face when he looked up at her, eyes shimmering and rippling like hot air during a Sunny Day, a frightened sincerity in his gaze and his voice when he murmured, "And here I am, pouring my heart out to you… when I've never lost my cool before!"

Gloria's lips parted, her eyes widening at his heated words, her mind running into overdrive as she stared at him. He gazed back defiantly, the emotion from his outburst already fading, though the flush in his cheeks lingered still.

As the commentator huddled with Leon in the Champion's box, whispering into his ear, the Gym Leaders murmuring to one another, she bit her lip and wondered what to say, wanting to break the tense silence, still reeling from his last words. They were… _weird_, bursting with unbridled anger, and yet packed and phrased in such a strange manner that they left her heart beating fast in her throat—a lump she swallowed with much difficulty.

She just decided to speak her mind, like she always had with Bede.

Clearing her throat, she hesitated for a second, before stuttering, "I… I don't know what to say, Bede."

She could hear the blank confusion in her voice, so painfully obvious, and she knew Bede could hear it too.

For a split second, she thought she saw a flicker of hurt flash across his eyes. But like a lightning strike, it vanished as soon as it appeared, and before she knew it, he was stalking up to her, crossing over to her side of the ring in a few strides.

She blinked at him. Resisted the urge to take a step back.

"Then _don't _say anything," he spat, as if trying to act like his previous self once again, but there was no venom in his voice, and up close to him, all Gloria could see now was a boy who had poured his heart out to her and left himself uncomfortably raw and vulnerable—but strangely beautiful all the same. "No words, just battle—one final battle. That's what I came for, and that's what you and me do best."

Slowly, her lip curled up slightly at the challenge. She always liked a challenge, and Bede was posing one hell of a challenge to her right now.

Well, no matter. Overcoming challenges was her best talent, and Bede was no different.

She would bring him to his knees.

"Battle me," repeated Bede, his eyes never leaving hers.

She crossed her arms and smirked at him, an open invitation.

"If you say so."


End file.
